Manslaughter Charges In Flint Water Crisis

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today filed new, more serious charges against 5 state and city officials in the Flint water crisis investigation.

“We will turn to the prosecution of this investigation,” Schuette said at a news conference in Flint this morning. “We are confident that the charges that we have filed will be upheld in the courts.”

He also said the case had entered a new phase.

Schuette’s statement came after he filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health, earlier this morning.

The investigation continues and Schuette didn’t rule out additional charges, but stressed that his team was now preparing to prove these cases in court.

The new and serious felony charges were brought against four defendants who were charged earlier in the investigation.

And Schuete said that while no charges are planned against Gov. Rick Snyder, his investigation continues, and “we have attempted to interview the governor,” but “we were not successful.”

Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells is charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer.

Four defendants charged earlier — former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality drinking water chief Liane Shekter-Smith; DEQ drinking water official Stephen Busch; and former City of Flint Water Department manager Howard Croft — were each charged with involuntary manslaughter.

All of the new charges are in connection with the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in the Flint area that led to 12 deaths after the city’s water supply was switched to the Flint River in April 2014.